marcbarker
New Member
Improve a Toaster Challenge
Can anyone suggest a good way of improving a Toaster, to prevent it burning the bread if the bread is ever different to normal?
The toaster has got that turny-round knob on the side of it, yeah, but that knob is usually left well alone, it's not changed once the toast is a good colour. Once you start fiddling with the turny-knob, it usually messes it up, "leave it alone" says a voice behind me, citing underdone or scraped toast events of earlier this week and kitchen filled with thick smoke.
Usually get around the problem by always making sure the bread is always the same brand, same thickness sliced and if the bread was kept in fridge, we allow it to warm up first. Trouble is, it's a bit boring having the same bread all the time, and now that we've recently got a bread-maker, it's difficult slicing the bread the right thickness each time. Too thin it's like a smoke bomb going off, too thick and you have to toast it again 2 or 3 times, and hope it doesn't fill the room with smoke on the final toasting.
So the challenge is...., does anyone know of a nice way of improving a cheap toaster to make it work better and be more tolerant of different bread?
Is there colour sensor that could be used? Or maybe some PIC-controlled thingy that measures the moisture of the bread or weighs the bread as it's toasting or whatever?
Can anyone suggest a good way of improving a Toaster, to prevent it burning the bread if the bread is ever different to normal?
The toaster has got that turny-round knob on the side of it, yeah, but that knob is usually left well alone, it's not changed once the toast is a good colour. Once you start fiddling with the turny-knob, it usually messes it up, "leave it alone" says a voice behind me, citing underdone or scraped toast events of earlier this week and kitchen filled with thick smoke.
Usually get around the problem by always making sure the bread is always the same brand, same thickness sliced and if the bread was kept in fridge, we allow it to warm up first. Trouble is, it's a bit boring having the same bread all the time, and now that we've recently got a bread-maker, it's difficult slicing the bread the right thickness each time. Too thin it's like a smoke bomb going off, too thick and you have to toast it again 2 or 3 times, and hope it doesn't fill the room with smoke on the final toasting.
So the challenge is...., does anyone know of a nice way of improving a cheap toaster to make it work better and be more tolerant of different bread?
Is there colour sensor that could be used? Or maybe some PIC-controlled thingy that measures the moisture of the bread or weighs the bread as it's toasting or whatever?
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